Østberg seals WRC 2 victory

The Norwegian, co-driven by Torstein Eriksen, had led the rally since the second stage on Friday. He entered Sunday’s finale with a 15.8sec lead over Ole Christian Veiby. A stage win on the Likenäs speed test ensured that the Citroën C3 pilot finished the rally 23.4sec clear of fellow countryman Veiby

“It feels really good. It was a challenging weekend and to have 50 points after Monte-Carlo and Sweden we are extremely happy,” said Østberg.

Pontus Tidemand was third on a one-off outing in a Skoda Fabia. The Swede was unable to match the pace of the leading pair and ended the rally 14.3sec behind Veiby.

A final-stage push for M-Sport Ford man Adrien Fourmaux paid off as he overtook team-mate Rhys Yates to snatch fourth. Just 7.7sec separated the Fiesta duo as they arrived at the finish.

Nikolay Gryazin rounded out the standings in sixth. His rally took a turn for the worse on Saturday morning’s Nyckelvattnet stage when he was forced to stop and change a puncture on his Hyundai i20.

With considerable time loss and not many stages left to run, the Russian youngster was unable to drag himself back up the standings.

Credit: Courtesy of wrc.com – the official website of the FIA World Rally Championship